Confectionery-coating machine.



PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903. L G'.'GARLSON. GONFEGTIONERY comma MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1902.

K0 MODEL.

llNiT tn STATES PA ENT OFFICE.

GABRIEL GARLSON, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CONFECTlONERY-COATING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATIGN forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,970, dated January6, 1903.

Application filed May 19, 1902. Serial No- 108,046. (N0 model.)

of this class whereby the blanks to be coated may be more thoroughlycoated, especially as regards the under side thereof, a further objectof the invention being to provide means whereby in a machine of thisclass the coated confections may be removed from the delivcry-apronwithout subjecting them to any handling and without permitting them todrop off from the delivery-apron into a receptacle provided for thatpurpose.

In the drawings forming part of this application, Figure 1 is asectional elevation taken lengthwise through the machine in which thisinvention is embodied. Fig. 2 is a perspective View of a portion of theflexible conveyer grating on which the confections are conveyed throughthe part of the machine in which the coating is effected. Fig. 3 is aperspective view of a portion of the deliveryapron.

In chocolatecoating machines as heretofore constructed commercial usehas developed certain disadvantages. Of these one is that it has beenfound difficult to properly coat the under side of the confection-blankswith the chocolate, and the second disadvantage referred to is that thetime required to properly effect the hardening of the coating hasnecessitated the use of a very long deliveryapron, whereby time might begiven to permit this coating to become hard, and it has alsonecessitated the use of artificially-cooled chambers, through which thedelivery-apron is made to travel, all of which make the requirements forroom for these machines quite disproportionate to their capacity as toprodnot. These two disadvantages have been overcome in the machine whichforms the subject of this application, the construction of which may bereadily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings and thefollowing specification.

In carrying out my invention I construct on a suitable frame the casinga, of metal, in the lower part of which there is a chocolate mixing andheating receptacle b, having double walls and a double bottom betweenwhich water is contained which may be heated by the steam-pipes 0.Within this receptacle 1) there is a horizontal shaft d, on which arelocated the paddles e, the shaft (1 being rotated by a shaftf, supportedon the back side of the casing and driven by a cord or belt from themain driving-shaft g of themachine. Suitable beveled'gear connectionsbetween the shafts f and the shaft d are provided, and indicated hereinby h. Extending to the chocolate-receptacle b there is averticallydisposed screw conveyor '5, inolosed within a tubej.

Suitably supported within the casing a and from the upper end of saidconveyer 'i a shaft 7c extends through said casing and has fixed thereona pulley 'm. Within the upper part of said casing there is supported ona short shaft 01, extending downwardly through the top thereof, a fan 0,which is driven by a cord or belt p, running over a suitable pulley onthe main driving-shaft g and another pulley on the upper end of saidshaft n, the screw conveyer 11 being driven also by a belt running fromthis shaft n to the pulleym on the shaft 70. The upper end of the tubejis provided with a spout g, having a flaring nozzle, wherebythechocolate may be run in a very thin stream down onto thehorizontally-disposed flexible conveyer 0" within the casing a, wherebythe confectionery-blanks to be coated may be carried through this casingunder theaforesaid thin stream of chocolate and after passing throughthe casing be deposited on a delivery-apron, (indicated by s.) Thishorizontallydisposed flexible conveyer 1' and the delivery-apron 3 donot per se constitute any part of this invention, as both of thesedevices are well known and are disclosed, for example, in the patenttoE. P. F. Magniez, dated August 13, 1901, No. 680,489; but this inventionruns particularly to the manner of constructing this flexible conveyerand the manner of constructing the flexible delivery-apron and to theircooperative relation, all as hereinafter described.

Referring first to the flexible conveyer r, it may be said that theproblem of finding a suitable conveyer mechanism whereby the confectionsmay be carried through the machine under a stream of chocolate and everypart of the confections suitably coated has been a very difficult one,and while certain types of conveyers will answer for small pieces theymay be totally unsuitable for pieces having a relatively large base, theconsequence being that the under side of the confections will not beproperly coated-either not coated at allin spots or covered with such athin layer that the blank may be seen, and thus make them undesirablefrom a commercial point of view.

Where confections having bases of considerable area are to be coated, itis necessary in order to attain the best results to support theseconfections in such a manner that as small a portion of said bases shallbe in contact with the supporting devices as possible and to providerolls located under the conveyer in contact with the underside thereof,whereby the chocolate may be spread by these rolls on the under side ofthe confections.

Heretofore a flexible conveyer device has been constructed by using anumber of parallel threads running over rolls through the machine; butthese prove unsatisfactory as a conveyer on account of their unstablecharactor and liability to breakage, the breaking of a thread causinggreat an noyance and damage by becoming tangled wit-h other threads andwound upon the rolls before the accident is discovered and the machinestopped. The principal objection, however, to this form of conveyer liesin the fact that because of the unstable nature of the construction theprodnot is not uniform.

By the construction of a flexible conveyer, as shown herein, I havesucceeded in overcoming the defectsexisting in prior constructions andhave provided a conveyer which may be subjected to sufficient tension tokeep it level without any danger of breakage and one which presents nomore contact-surface with the under side of the confections than do theparallel threads referred to, and it is of a form which permits thedistributing-rolls underneath the conveyer to spread the chocolatemixture over the under side of the confections in a manner entirelysatisfactory. This conveyer consists in supporting a number of finemetal wires, preferably of steel piano-wire,- so called, between twoside strips to of flexible material, preferably a strip of canvas orheavy tape. The wires 15 are secured by their ends to these edge stripsto in any suitable manner. The ends of the wires may be flattened andstitched into pockets made by folding the edge strips over to inclosethe ends of the wires, or the ends of the latter may be bent at rightangles to their length and stitched in in that way or in any othermanner whereby they may be held in their relative parallel positions atright an gles to the direction of movement of the conveyer through themachine. This conveyer is made of such length that'one end thereof mayextend out through the side of the easing a far enough to permit theconfectionblanks to be placed thereon by the operator. The outer end ofthis conveyer is supported on a roll 1:, carried on a suitable bracket.The opposite end runs over a small roll to, and between these two arethe rolls 23, which serve the double purpose of partially supporting theconveyer, maintaining it in a horizontal plane, and acting asdistributingrolls, whereby the chocolate mixture may be applied to theunder side of the confection. Other rolls y, located below the rolls or,are bearing-rolls. Any suitable means may be employed for placing thisconveyer 1* under endwise tension.

It will be observed that the roll w,over which the conveyer runs at oneend thereof is of very small diameter, this construction being necessaryin order that there may be no wide break between this end of theconveyer and the contiguous end of the delivery-apron s, and theconstruction of the flexible conveyer above described is such that it ispossible to run it over a roll having this small diameter. Thedelivery-apron s is supported on a roll .2 on the shaft 9 and is driventhereby. From this roll it runs up over a small roll 2 close to the rollwand from thence over a roll 3, supported on a suitable standard in suchposition that said apron will travel in the same horizontal plane as theconveyer r. This apron may be made of any suitable material having therequired flexibility. Generally, however, it is made of enameled cloth.

Extending partiallyaround the roll 3 there is a metal guard 4, which iscarried in parallelism with the delivery-apron .9 back to and partiallyaround the roll 2, there being a slight space left between the surfaceof the roll and the interior surface of said guard.

At regular intervals there is sewed to the delivery-apron atransversely-disposed strip 5, the rearward edge of which is stitched orotherwise secured to the apron, leaving the forward edge free. Thisstrip may be of any suitable material which has the necessary rigidityto keep it from being easily turned backward upon itself. In thedrawings the proportions thereof relative to the deliveryapron aresomewhat exaggerated for the sake of clearness.

Between the two rolls .2 and 3 there is a table 6, over the surface ofwhich the apron .9 runs. Engaging with these strips 5 on the apron arethe flexible sheets '7, the forward edges of which are turned backunderneath the sheet, thus forming a pocket with which the edge of thestrip 5 on the apron may engage. In practioe all these parts are so madethat the forward end of the sheet 7 will lie close against the surfaceof the apron. The length of the sheets 7 is such that when the forwardend thereof is engaged with one of the strips 5 the other end will belocated close to the next succeeding strip 5. It is thus seen that thisconstruction provides a delivery-apron whose upper surface consists ofseparated sheets,which maybe removed from the apron by sliding themsidewise off of the latter onto a table, as 6, and constitute a coveringfor the apron, which is removable in sections.

The guard 4 is for the purpose of holding the sheets 7 in engagementwith the aprons during the passage of the latter beneath the rolls 3 andand for properly guiding the forward end of said sheet past the end ofthe conveyer r. This delivery-apron construction overcomes one of thedisadvantages of' this type of machine as heretofore constructed bymaking it possible to take care of the product of the machine withouthandling the same or without permitting the same to drop into anyreceptacle from the delivery end of the aprons, and the manner ofoperating this delivery-apron and its removable sheets is as follows: Anoperator stands near the table 6, and as the sheets 7 pass over saidtable they are pushed sidewise off onto one end of the table and anempty sheet slid onto the apron from the other side and into the placeformerly occupied by said removed sheet, care being taken to engage eachsheet with its proper strip 5. The filled sheets removed from thedelivery-apron may then he slid off onto a thin board or tray and put upin racks to thoroughly harden before being packed. It is possible thatthese sheets may be made of some material-as, for example, thin brass,aluminium, or celluloid-which possesses the required flexibility to passaround the rolls supporting the apron and yet sufficient rigidity topermit them to be handled without the use of a board or tray.Furthermore, it permits different kinds of confections to be coated inthe machine without mixing the product. This method of caring for theproduct of the machine of this type removes one of the seriousdisadvantages which have pertained to all machines of this class asheretofore constructed within my knowledge. Suitable movement in theproper direction is imparted to the conveyer r by mounting on the end ofthe roll on which this conveyer is carried sprocket-wheels (indicated by8 and shown only in dotted lines) and mounting on the shaft g anothersprocket-whee1 (also shown only in dotted lines in said Fig. 1) andrunning a sprocket-chain 9 over these sprockets in engagement with theupperside thereof and with the under side of the driving-sprocket on theshaft g.

As heretofore stated, the rolls a: not only serve as supports for theconveyer t', but they become covered with chocolate and thereafter serveas means for applying the chocolate to the under side of the confectionsas the latter pass over these rolls. It will be observed that the speedof rotation of these rolls is the same as the speed of rotation of theend rolls n and w, and therefore the application of the chocolate to theunder side of the confections is by simple contact, there being nowiping movement, which would be produced by a.difference in speedbetween the conveyer and the surface speed of the roll.

vi henet er in the specification the word apron has been used, it is tobe understood that it has been used in its broadest sense and that amoving conveyer device is intended to be designated thereby and that Ido not wish to be understood as restricting myself specifically to anapron.

Having thus described my invention ,wvhat I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A coating-machine for confections consisting ofa receptacle for thecoating material, a conveyer device for carrying the confections to becoated composed of wires secured by their ends to strips of flexiblematerial, rolls for supporting the conveyor device, means for impartingmovement to said device through the machine, together with means foreffecting the flow of coating material from said receptacle onto saidconveyer device.

2. A coating-machine for confections consisting of a receptacle for thecoating material, a conveyer device for carrying the confections, rollsfor supporting the conveyer device, means for drenching the confectionson said device with coating material, and a delivery-apron for receivingthe coated confections from the conveyer device, said apron consistingof separately-removable sections, whereby the confections may be removedfrom the apron without being disturbed.

3. In a machine for coating confections, the followinginstrumentalities: a conveyer device, a receptacle for the coatingmaterial, means for directing a stream of said mate rial onto saidconveyer device, and a delivery mechanism for the machine composed ofseparable sections on which the confections may be deposited from theconveyer device by the operation of the machine, whereby saidconfections may be removed without being disturbed.

4. A coating-machine for confections consisting of a receptacle for thecoating material, a conveyer device horizontally located over saidreceptacle, an elevating device for raising the material in saidreceptacle to a point above the conveyer device whereby the material mayflow upon said device; means for moving the latter through the machine,

and a delivery mechanism consisting of a movable apron, andsheetsof'material removably engaging said apron, upon which sheets thecoated confections may be deposited from the conveyer device.

5. In a confectionery-coating machine,suitable coating devices and adelivery mechanism consisting of separable confection-receiv- ICC vice,a receptacle for the coating material, means for covering theconfections with said material, and a delivery mechanism for the machinecomposed of separable sections on which the confections may be depositedfrom the conveyer device by the operation of the machine, whereby saidconfections may be removed Without being disturbed.

GABRIEL OARLSON.

WVitnesses:

WM. H. CHAPIN, K. I. OLEMoNs.

